First trip with D70, Bonaire

I just got back from Bonaire, and have posted a few shots here

My favorite shots are the fish portraits, a new area of eneavor for me and I know I still have a lot to learn about patience, timing, and composition.

A couple notes...

1. I struggled some with correct strobe aiming with wide angle and two strobes -- I'd always used a single strobe before. Many shots are with 1 strobe.

2. I found a lot more use for the 60mm than for wa at Bonaire. And found these shots MUCH easier with the D70 than the coolpix. Fast capture and the Ds125 recycle time are nice.

3. Workflow was capture--(edited NEF)-->PSE--(edited TIF)-->Dreamweaver--(rescaled jpgs)-->album. Processing is pretty light; a bit of color balancing, minimal sharpening, and some speck removal for backscatter.

4. Sorry, the album is a bit of a mish-mash.

All the best,

Chris

Nice series of shots Chris.....I like seeing a few topside shots also.....where did you find the frogfish?....I really like the shot posted above except for the bright spot to the right....the OOF background really works with this shot...good catch

Karl

Karl,

Thanks for the comments. How would you handle the bright spot? Select and tone down, or some layer tricks? Hints from anyone appreciated. This is great, this is one of the things I was hoping to come out of posting these "naively" processed images!

The frogfish were at "Something Special" and "Capt. Don's" (the divesite on Klein, not the Habitat reef). We (well, a DM found them) found *4* at "Something Special". We also saw some seahorses ... when I had the 16 or 10.5 on, of course.

And another note: I am still experimenting with AFL/AF-S vs AF-C/shutter halway down/ dynamic vs. fixed focus area, etc. Comments and experience?

All shots AF, and I expect to keep doing that for a while.

Cheers,

Chris

Hi Chris,

Off subject, looking at your site saw your pics of Cocos, awesom! We are getting ready to book a July 06 trip (hard to think that far off). Picking between Aggressor or Sea Hunter, what made you pick the Sea Hunter? Do you have trip report I did'nt see?

Thanks

Chris....not sure what to recommend on "fixing" the bright spot....that's a tough one for my skills

Underwater, I use AF-C, spot focus mode with the AE/AF button set to AF on.

I'll start composing a subject while pushing the AE/AF button to start continuous focus....I'll hit the shutter when I see the shot that I want

Karl

Very nice gallery. Looks like you had a great time.

Tony

Just a couple quick additions to my own post --

That is a small cleaner (neon goby?) near the mouth of the white-spotted filefish -- that's why it was hovering so conveniently, I reckon.

I bought much of the rig through Dave Haas, Wetpixelian. He helped sort through options, ensured it was all gathered together and shipped together, tested it before shipping, and has answered a few questions since. I think his help was worth the small increment in price, compared with discounters (who stock and ship at random, don't test, and can't answer questions).

Cheers,

Chris

Nicely done Chris, i too like the limited DOF on the Damsel above.

Personally i find it very hard to lock focus using the AF-S, especially macro. Therefore i have gone exclusively with the AF-C, i can move it around and fire when the area i want focused becomes sharp.

And whats funny is i have no problems aiming two strobes in WA with limited to no backscatter, i always get more when shooting Macro...so we are opposite there.

Glad you are enjoying the new rig, way better than the ol PnS for shooting eh?

Nice! I like this damsel and the limited depht of field, looks good! I enjoyed a lot frogfishes and porcupines at your gallery.

Good job, thanks for sharing!